shillelagh

See also: Shillelagh

English

WOTD – 17 March 2017

An assortment of shillelaghs

Etymology

Either from Shillelagh, County Wicklow, in Ireland (from Irish Síol (“descendants”) + Éalaigh (a name)), because the forest near it provided the wood from which such clubs were made; or from sail (“cudgel”) + éille (“thong”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ʃəˈleɪli/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Rhymes: -eɪli
Hyphenation: shil‧le‧lagh

Noun

shillelagh (plural shillelaghs)

(Ireland) A wooden (traditionally blackthorn (sloe) wood) club ending with a large knob.
- 1842, Charlotte Elizabeth, “Letter IX. The Dumb Boy.”, in Personal Recollections. [...] From the London Edition, New York, N.Y.: John S. Taylor & Co. No. 145 Nassau-Street, Brick Church Chapel, OCLC 13754334, pages 151–152:
  [T]he stem of a stout young oak or ash tree, into the end of which, where the roots had been rounded off, a quantity of molten lead was poured, making the shillelagh more formidable in such hands than a sword would have been – much harder to parry, and impossible to break.
- [1864], T. Maclagan, “The Twig of the Shannon”, in Maclagan's Musical Age Songster, Containing All the Most Popular Songs Sung by T. Maclagan, London: The Music-Publishing Company, 19 Peter's Hill, St. Paul's, E.C., OCLC 562194404, page 27:
  It beats all your guns and your rifles, / For it goes off whene'er you desire, / And it's sure to hit just what it aims at, / For shillelaghs they never miss fire.
- 1958, Terence Hanbury White, The Once and Future King, London: William Collins, Sons, OCLC 300030275:
  "My sorrow!" cried Toirdealbhach. "What do I want to be a saint for at all, is my puzzle! If I could fetch one crack at somebody with me ouldshillelagh"—here he produced a frightful-looking weapon from under his gown—"wouldn't it be better than all the saints in Ireland?"
- 2007, John W. Hurley, “Irish Martial Arts”, in Shillelagh: The Irish Fighting Stick, Pipersville, Pa.: Caravat Press, →ISBN, page 15:
  The precise size and shape of a shillelagh can be hard to agree upon, but most of those who have an interest in Irish culture will readily acknowledge that a knobbed stick, made of oak or blackthorn, are the distinguishing characteristics of a shillelagh.
Any cudgel, whether or not of Irish origin.

Alternative forms

shillala, shillalah, shillelah
shillalagh
shillaly, shillely

References

Shillelah in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913